Book Reviews: Men In Business: Essays in the History of Entrepreneurship. Edited by WILLIAM MILLER. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. 1952. Pp. ix, 350. $5.00.)

• Author: Marver H. Bernstein
• Published date: 01 December 1952
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295200500426
• Date: 01 December 1952
• Subject Matter: Articles

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Men In Business: Essays in the History of Entrepreneurship. Edited by
WILLIAM MILLER. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
1952. Pp. ix, 350. $5.00.)
The analysis of entrepreneurship as a factor in economic change and
growth marks a new development in the study of economic history which
is of growing importance to political scientists concerned with the relation-
ships of government and economic life. This volume throws some light
on the role of the businessman in economic and social organization. It
tries to identify types of entrepreneurs, delineate their characteristics, and
account for their successes and failures. Although the eleven essays in the
book do not offer anything more than some quite tentative and pre-
liminary clues to the problem, they do present some interesting case
studies of businessmen and some suggestive treatment of the broad prob-
lems concerning their role and characteristics.
Six essays deal with individual businessmen who differ widely in
terms of personality, experience, and economic activity. The four Amer-
icans portrayed are John Stevens of Hoboken, who combined activities
in real estate, transportation, and many other businesses in the late
eighteenth century; Henry Day, who temporarily abandoned his intellec-
tual and religious career in the 1840’s only to fail quite miserably in
business; Frank Sprague, who promoted a revolution in urban transporta-
tion by means of electric traction; and Henry Varnum Poor, a financial
analyst of railroading who became the philosopher of management in the
1850’s and later. In addition there is a Canadian, W. H. Merritt, prominent
in his country’s business and politics after the War of 1812; and Edouard
Dervieu, a Frenchman who served as private banker to the Viceroy of
Egypt in the 1860’s.
Five essays are concerned with broader questions. The first, by com-
paring French and American social conditions, shows that the entre-
preneur has both affected and been influenced by the social...